"This isn't really a question, but..."
Lizzy had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. This always happened at book events, especially when the author was a woman: some guy would take the mic during the Q&A and, instead of asking a question, proceeded to regale the audience with his thoughts on a tangentially related topic in a long, rambling speech.
She barely paid attention to what he said, and instead scanned the crowd for Asher. She found him seated in the back row. He looked bored. Good. Maybe next time he would think twice before... well, doing whatever it was he was doing at her book signing.
"That's very interesting," she said, the moment the man at the mic paused for breath. "I believe the young woman on the second row has a question?"
The woman got up and walked to the mic, which had been reluctantly relinquished by the guy. "Hi," she said, a little silly. "You don't seem to write much about the more mainstream films or blockbusters. Why is that?"
"Good question." Lizzy smiled and relaxed a bit. They had given her a chair for the Q&A but she preferred to stand, sometimes even pace a bit as she answered questions. "There are more than enough people giving their reviews and critiques of, say, superhero films. I personally don't like most of what the big studios are putting out, and what I have to say about them isn't particularly interesting. And I don't like writing negative reviews." A few audience members nodded. "So instead, I try to find films that are good, and most of the time they just happen to be independently produced." She paused, looking at the audience members who were raising their hands. "Yes, the young lady in the back row."
Too late did Lizzy realize that she probably called on the girl because Lizzy had been looking at Asher and the girl was sitting right next to him.
The girl looked very young. Fifteen maybe. She looked a little shy, but it then she was probably the youngest person in the audience.
"I love movies," the girl said. "And I want to write about them too, one day. What can I do to, you know, prepare for that?"
Lizzy nodded. "Why aren't you writing about movies now?"
"I'm not a very good writer."
"Well, there are very few writers who start out very good. That's all right. The sooner you start writing, the sooner you'll get better. Blogging is good practice, I think. Maybe even a video channel."
"Oh." The girl's face lit up. "Okay."
The girl walked back to her seat. To Lizzy's surprise, Asher smiled up at the girl and she whispered something to him before sitting back down.
The girl was a little too old to be his child. A sister, maybe? Lizzy didn't know what to think about that. Except that maybe she had been mistaken and he wasn't here to see her. But he didn't strike her as the type to be babysitting a kid sister at a book signing he wasn't particularly interested in, as was patently obvious by the many times he kept looking at his watch.
Either way, at least it explained why he hadn't shown up at the office that afternoon, when she was supposed to show him around, give him a basic idea of their operations. She had waited for him for an hour before she gave up and left for the bookstore.
Lizzy took two more questions, then sat behind the desk in front of the audience to sign books. She lost sight of Asher and the girl. It was a relief, because she wasn't looking forward to having to talk to him. While she may have to tolerate him at work, she had no desire to spend any time with him outside the office.
None whatsoever.
***
"You think he's ghosting us?" Sharlene said wistfully.
Lizzy snorted. "If only," she said, not bothering to look up from her notes. It was Friday, and Sharlene and she were finalizing their pitches to Jade for next week's articles. Nobody had heard from Asher Darcy since Monday, but Sharlene kept asking Lizzy about it. As if Lizzy would even know. "Okay, how about we give the new intern the assignment?"
"The intern?"
"The one coming on Monday."
"Oh about that."
Lizzy looked up, frowning. "What's wrong?"
"She bailed."
"Bailed? She knows we're paying her, right?"
"Yes. But I think her mom's friend got her a gig over at Popsugar."
Lizzy sighed. "Do we have a backup?"
"You'll have to recommend someone else from the people you interviewed."
"Right." Lizzy made a note in her journal. "I'm thinking that kid from UCLA. He seemed promising. Brian Reyes, I think his name was."
"Shit. He's here."
Lizzy looked up, frowning. "Brian?"
"No. Darcy."
Lizzy refused to look toward the direction of her friend's gaze. "I'm surprised he even remembered he owns a magazine. Maybe we'll get lucky and forget us over the weekend."
"He just went into Jade's office."
Lizzy rolled her eyes. Of course, if there was one thing that would bring Asher to the office, it was a beautiful woman.
She gave herself a mental shake. No, that wasn't fair. Jade was the Executive Editor, after all. Any business Asher would have with the magazine, he would be conducting through her. So he didn't show up at his appointment with Lizzy. Did it matter? He probably thought the offer Jade made for Lizzy to show him around was a courtesy, nothing more. That it wasn't something he really needed to do. Or maybe he forgot — clearly, Lizzy wasn't attractive enough to hold his interest. She didn't care. Not a bit.
"As I was saying," she said, "we need to give the intern something to do other than pitch tweet ideas." She wasn't going to let Asher Darcy disrupt their work more than he already had.
"All right," Sharlene said. "Maybe next week they can pitch you their own stories too."
"Maybe." When Sharlene rolled her eyes, she added, "What?"
"When I say let the interns pitch their stories, I mean we should actually consider their ideas."
"Of course."
"Maybe even actually accept one or two of those ideas."
"If they're good." Lizzy frowned. "What are you saying, exactly?"
"I'm saying you need to be more open to other people's ideas."
"I'm totally open okay?" Lizzy held up her pen. "And sometimes I do take article idea pitches from my writing staff."
"Which you always change into something that fits into what you want." Sharlene shook her head, her auburn bob swinging around her cheeks. "Face it, you're kind of a control freak."
"Am not."
"Every time we go out, you check the weather, the traffic—"
"What's wrong with that?"
"— check if any of our friends are bringing over someone new —"
"That's perfectly normal, okay."
"Not if you run a background check on them before we even ordered."
"I'm trying to keep us all safe. And anyway Google is not the same as a background search."
"Remember that time during that New York trip, when I wanted to get a hotdog from the sidewalk? I had to wait five minutes while you were checking its rating and reviews on Yelp." Sharlene gave her a smug grin. "Like I said— control freak."
Lizzy snorted. "See, that would be true if I did all these things because I couldn't help myself. But I could."
"Uh huh." Sharlene didn't look convinced.
"I mean, if I wanted to."
"Really? If I said I'm taking you out to a new bar tonight, you'll come along and not ask questions?"
"Oh come on." Lizzy looked at her friend with indignation. "I'll want to know where we're going. Anyone would."
"Yes but they don't have to know. You do."
"No I don't. I just prefer... Wait, are we going out tonight?"
"No, sorry." Sharlene looked sheepish. "I have a date."
Lizzy shrugged. "Well if we were, I'll be totally okay with leaving all the details to you."
"We'll see."
An hour later, Asher walked out Jade's office and left.
***
Got any plans tonight?
Jade's text arrived out of the blue, just as Lizzy had put in a load of laundry in her washer. She replied.
No. Why?
She wasn't ashamed to admit the most exciting thing she had going for her on a Saturday night was separating her light-colored clothes from her dark ones. Jade never judged — was one of the ten million wonderful things about her. She also always treated Lizzy like an adult who made her own decisions, even if that decision was staying home and doing housework instead of going out on a date.
Henry is working late. I'm going to a party. Wanna be my plus one?
What kind of party?
Lizzy bit her lower lip. That wasn't weird, was it? A perfectly normal question anyone would ask.
The fancy dress-up kind with masks.
You're kidding.
Nope. It's Victorian-themed. Sorry, this was short notice but I do have a dress for it, which was why I agreed. What about you?
Lizzy grinned.
Actually, I do.
Oh good. Pick you up at nine?
Lizzy managed to stop herself just as she was about to text back asking whose party they were going to, where it was, and what time it was going to end. She didn't need to. She was totally able to go to a random party and enjoy herself. Besides, knowing Jade, the party was more likely to be boring than actually shady.
She texted back: Yeah. See ya.
"Oh for God's sake, Lizzy," Jade said when, two hours later, Lizzy opened the front door of the car and slid into the seat.
"You said Victorian," Lizzy reminded her, setting her black satin top hat carefully on her lap.
Jade laughed, the dark ringlets around her face shaking. "I guess I did. So you had a Victorian men's evening suit just hanging in your closet?"
Lizzy sighed, running a finger in the inside of her collar. "I had this made for a steampunk convention, but I didn't get the rest of the costume made in time."
"You were going as a male character?" Jade set her eyes on the road as they rolled down the street.
"She's female, but she prefers men's clothes."
"I don't blame her. I had to take off my petticoat just to fit behind the wheel. I wish I could do the same with the corset."
Lizzy frowned at her friend's costume. It was an emerald green off-the-shoulder dress, accessorized with pearl jewelry and a pair of white gloves. "I knew something was missing. That's a really gorgeous dress. You had that just hanging in your closet?"
"I was a bridesmaid at a wedding of a cousin who was really obsessed with corsets."
"Huh."
"You don't mind the A.C. is on full, do you? This dress is really hot."
"Girl, I'm wearing a vest under this jacket so..." Lizzy waved a hand over her suit.
"At least you can take that jacket off." Jade shot her a curious glance. "You know where we're going?"
"Nope," Lizzy said breezily.
"You're not going to ask me?"
"Not really."
"You don't want to know who's party this is?"
"Is it anyone I know?"
"Actually, no."
Lizzy shrugged. "I'm sure it will be fine, if you're going. I'm just going to have fun."
Take that, Sharlene.
Jade's eyebrows were raised in surprise, but she didn't press the subject. "I think you will," she said, then grinned.
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I hope you enjoyed this chapter, loves! I hope you voted for this part. Next update will be on Friday, 22 March. In the meantime, the Chapters 9 and 10 are now available here (please type the URL in your browser):
https://anselacorsino.com/control
Enjoy your weekend!